Saturday, January 30, 2010

TN Public Schools Plan to Teach the Bible

Thursday, the Tennessee Board of Education approved guidelines on how to teach the Bible in public high schools. The curriculum is in response to 2008 legislation, which authorized the state to create a course for a "nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible."

State officials said they tried to develop principles that are safe from court challenges, but others believe a state-approved Bible course could violate church and state separation, depending on who is teaching the course.

Hedy Weinberg, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said it appears the state was sensitive to concerns that the classes would be used to proselytize. But there are few details on how the classes will be run.

The course is an elective, meaning high schools can choose whether to offer it to students as a social studies credit, and students can decide whether to take it. Before the state-approved curriculum, school districts could develop and offer their own courses on the Bible, and according to state social studies specialist Brenda Ables, some of these classes have been offered for years.